


Topia Tidbits

by CrownePrince



Category: Trolls (Movies 2016 2020), Trolls: The Beat Goes On (Cartoon), Trolls: TrollsTopia (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Comedy, F/M, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, Non-Chronological, One Shot Collection, Rare Characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:47:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29641845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrownePrince/pseuds/CrownePrince
Summary: Fun additions to Trollstopia that include World Tour characters.Queen Barb exists. Hickory soon? Lots of Branch. Lots of Branch and Poppy being adorably clumsy at romance. Laguna rejects your pronouns and substitutes their own. Any excuse to feature Demo or R&B is acceptable.
Relationships: Branch/Queen Poppy (Trolls)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 35





	1. Hard Rock Delegate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pre-Trollstopia. After the World Tour, the rock trolls get an invite to send someone to Pop Village.

“Thundershock, c’mere.”

Val paused in the middle of the step she was taking and sighed. Or more like, groaned. She turned around. “What.”

Queen Barb raised an eyebrow. She leaned back into her throne and whisked out an envelope. The jagged rip along the top showed it had been torn open. Pink paper with cutesy rainbow stickers peeked through.

“Ew,” Val said.

“Popsqueak sent a letter for you.”

“Who’s Popsqueak?”

“Uh. Hello. Have you not been paying attention to anything that’s happened the past few weeks?”

“Yeah. You left me here to ‘take care of things’ while you went on some rippin’ world tour.”

Barb leaned her elbows onto her knees, a snarky smile over her face. “And what do I come home to? Half of lava rock destroyed, a bunch of broken shit nobody could be bothered to replace, and lo and behold—” the queen’s head tipped toward a shredded heap in the corner “—that was my dad’s favorite leather couch.”

Barb’s smile turned wicked. “You wanted a world tour. Well congrats. Now you get a solo trip all of your own.”

“Ugh. Why do I have to be the one to go? Can’t you send Riff or somethin’?”

“Nope. Your attitude needs work. I’m tired of kicking your butt. Let someone else do it for a while.”

As if anyone other than a rocker could kick ass. Val crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “Pfff. Yeah. Pretty sure glitter and gumdrops never hurt anybody.”

Barb leaned further over her knees, flicking the card up between her fingers. Her snaggletooth grin grew wider. “Shouldn’t be a problem for you then. Have fun.”

Val snatched the envelope. “Yeah whatever.”

Barb kicked back on the throne and folded her arms behind her head. “When ya see Popsqueak, tell her she’s hot.”

Val stormed down the carpet. “Tell her yourself.”

“Don’t write home,” the queen called back.

“I won’t!”

“See ya never!” Barb said.

“Hope it’s longer than that!”


	2. Rockwakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Branch and Demo hunt down a new outfit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really liked this Demo/Branch scene and wanted to expand on it.

Demo took it as a victory that he'd gotten Branch to visit Rock Hollow. The skittish forest troll weaved around all the discarded items in the hangout area. He stepped over a tangled river of amp cords. "How is it that nobody trips around here?"

"Oh they do," Demo waved. "Val fell flat on her face the other day. Pulled the cords at the same time and knocked the amp tower into a metal heap. It was epic."

"What is it with trolls and complete lack of concern for personal safety…" Branch muttered under his breath.

Demo led his new buddy to the nook stuffed with speakers.

"Um. Is this going to be loud?"

"No no no, you'll see. We'll start out with something simple." Demo dug through a pile of stuff until he found what he was looking for. "Ah, here it is. The classics."

He shoved the cracked record player onto the central table. "Ya can't replace the totally unique experience of vinyl. Behold!"

The record spun. Branch watched with timid curiosity, sorta scrunched in on himself like an itty bitty lava sprite. Demo wasn't fooling around: he started straight from the top with one of the most popular bands back home. Electric guitar pumped up the opening riff. Branch's ears perked. He started to subtly follow the beat with a head bob. Yes! Ha. Success!

The drum kit kicked in. Then the lyrics started. Demo watched his buddy's hand unfurl.

"Wh—what's happening to my hand?"

"Totally normal the first time you hear Bad Hair Day! Just lean into it man."

Branch tried to resist, but it was too late. Slowly he stood straighter as the catchy tune hooked him. Drumbeats pulsed into his heart and encouraged him to loosen up. That's what hard rock did. It freed you.

"Wow. I feel… I feel so alive!" Branch looked up at his hand as if seeing it for the first time. "I don't feel like being paranoid about this. Why don't I feel like being paranoid?" He said with a little bit of awe.

"That's because you're having…" Demo's face shadowed "... _your rockwakening._ "

"My rockwakening?"

"Mhmm. And that chill sense of easiness underneath the hard rock spirit is just the first part."

"There's a second part?"

Yes. Yes there was.

* * *

One short cutaway later, Demo and Branch were in Rock Hollow's marketplace. There weren't a lot of shops built into the hollowed out stone cliffside—hardly any compared to the hustle and bustle of Volcano Rock City—but Branch's eyes flicked over it all with tourist fascination. The forest trolls sure had a different way of doing things. Rock shops were old hat to Demo, but he figured for Branch being here was just as odd as walking through Pop Village where everything was soft and fuzzy.

"I'm just saying," Demo continued, "part of being a hard rock troll is in the style."

Branch rubbed a finger over his chin while he studied a display of tattoo designs. "I dunno. I kinda blew it with the country trolls last time."

"Pssh," Demo waved that off. "My man, you have got a rocker's sense for fashion, I know it. C'mon. All ya gotta do is look. Not like you have to try anything on."

"Well alright…" Branch didn't sound convinced.

Through the glass windows of the Hollow's outfitters a range of accessories and clothes filled the displays. Sharp studded bracelets, leather jackets, ripped denim, and patterns ranging from edgy to cool were up for grabs.

Demo didn't have to give many suggestions. He watched Branch browse, wondering if he'd go for the minimalist look he'd apparently been blasted into during the World Tour. Demo hadn't been there to see it but he'd heard about it.

But no, Branch picked out a jacket first and then pants to go with them. Understandable—Demo was a jacket guy himself.

A table with new ties caught Demo's attention. Ooo, the black one with a skully pattern was pretty cool.

By the time he was done with the ties, Branch had sauntered off toward a stone counter nobody visited too often. A few pairs of shoes and boots for the more daring trolls lined the top. One set in particular stood out.

Branch gasped, big shiny sparkles glittering in his eyes. His finger slid over the black boot's toe and down the tall platform. "I must have them."

Bold choice. "Suuuure you don't want to try anything on?"

The teal troll scooped up the hefty boots. "Changed my mind." He disappeared into the changing room.

When he emerged it was in studded black. Demo's eyebrows went up. It wasn't the clothes that made the man, but the confidence. For a brief moment the guy looked fantastic despite the tame pop hairstyle.

Then Branch realized he was out in the open for everybody to see and turned shy. Hesitation crept into his voice. Fingers wandered along the jacket's opening. "Do you think Poppy will like it?"

That wasn't the point. Demo folded his arms. "What if she _doesn't_ like it?"

Branch's smile faded.

"Do _you_ like it?" Demo asked.

"I… yeah… but…"

"Listen man. I get that Poppy matters to you, but you're still your own troll. And this is about you. This is _your_ time to shine. So let me ask again. Does wearing this totally hardcore, blacker than the darkest night outfit make _you_ feel good?"

Branch stood a little taller. "...Yeah."

"Ready to take on the world?"

Taller. "Yeah!"

"Does it make you wanna rock?"

"YeeeAAAAH!" An edgy scream pierced the word. Branch clapped his hands over his mouth.

"No no, let it out! Unleash the raging fire inside your soul and—" Demo leapt onto the counter "—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Flames sprouted around his feet.

"aaaaa?"

"More vocals! Like AAAAAAAAAAA!" Fire surged. The shop's windows shattered.

"aaaaaHHHH!" Thunder and lightning.

"AAAAA!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Demo rocked finger guns. "Perfect."

A burning ring that consumed the entire countertop surrounded Demo. The back edge sported a wall of flame. It was… moderately hot. He stood there.

Branch's hair whipped out a fire extinguisher and sprayed down the blaze.

"Thanks. I had no idea how I was gonna get out of that." He stepped coolly off the charred counter.

Branch blinked at the wreckage. "Shouldn't we do something about this?"

"And ruin the aesthetic? Look at those scorch marks."

"Think I'm starting to see why everything here has that slightly singed, smoky smell."

"I know right? Makes it feel like a real rock city. Hot, glorious, and raw," Demo growled, making a fist. "Now come on, let's go back to the den. That hairstyle could use a tune-up. And I know I've got Bad Hair day's newest album kicking around somewhere."

Excitement sparked. "There's _more?_ "

"Oh-hoh. You bet there's more."


	3. Taffy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Candy pranks disrupt everyday life.

"I just… I don't know what happened!" the large blue troll babbled. "One minute we were playing freeze tag, and the next, and the next…"

Laguna tapped their pen to their mouth. "Hmm. Yes. The specimen does indeed seem to be frozen, though not in a temperature sense of the word."

The striped worm lay in an L shape on its size, completely immobile in the dirt.

"Should I go get Milton? I'll go get Milton! Ooooh, but that means I have to leave Mr. D."

"I shall watch over the worm."

The giant troll took off at maximum speed. Interesting. There seemed to be a number of pop trolls who enjoyed the companionship of small creatures, but it was quite different from the square beat fish that tended to form permanent bonds with techno trolls. Or was it? This big troll and worm had formed an emotional symbiotic relationship.

Yet the worm appeared unaffected by the momentary loss of its friend. Then again, it had apparently been "frozen" in this game and refused to become "unfrozen" despite repeated resuscitation attempts.

Hopefully this Milton person could get to the bottom of this.

* * *

Ok. Branch steeled himself with a curt huff.

Poppy stood at the flower patch, her back to him. She didn't know he was there yet. And he'd been thinking a lot. He'd been thinking of doing this. No big deal. He was just gonna…

His next step turned him around. Gonna go back to the village! Or stand here and wait for some other troll to show up! Yeah!

But right now Poppy was there alone, and the timing was perfect. Was it? Wasn't it?

He groaned. It wasn't even a big deal. He was just gonna…

kiss her

...

EASY. So easy! He whirled around. The sweet absolutely wonderful frustrating but frosting-did-he-want-it visage of Poppy in her favorite blue dress greeted him. She was still there with her back turned.

She'd _already kissed him_ at the end of the world tour fiasco. It'd been spontaneous and surprised them both and was too short. So maybe if he started it this time, they could—

Did he leave the bunker hatch open? What if it rained? What if someone fell in? It was probably open, he should probably...

Branch mentally slapped himself.

—they could kiss each other more. Because that's what couples did. And they were 100% an absolutely normal troll couple. _Normal troll couple_ , he repeated. Hugs, kisses, and cuddles.

Cuddles. The tips of his ears burned. They could work their way up to that?

Ok yes but first this had to happen. Standard relationship procedure. Branch anxiously eased himself up behind Poppy. Did she know he was there now? She must know he was there.

Strawberry curls fluffing over the back of her cheek hinted at the big inviting space on the front side. It would be easy. One quick peck and done, play it off afterwards with a suave hello and a question about her day so far. Ugh. He grimaced. Why was he nervous, they loved each other, he wasn't supposed to be nervous!

He balled his fists and sucked in a huge breath. Eyes scrunched shut. In one smooth movement he circled to her side, pressed his lips to her sticky cheek—?

—Sticky?! Shocked, he leapt backwards.

"Branch?" Poppy asked from ten feet behind him.

"AHHH!" he yelped, zipping around to the other side of sticky Poppy to hide from new Poppy. His hands flailed onto her shoulders. Instead of soft fuzz, gooey honey texture slapped his palms. Confusion banged around inside his brain.

New Poppy tipped her head. "Uhh. Why do you have a taffy sculpture of me?"

"W—wha? I, uh, I thought. I mean it was here already!" he squeaked.

Dying. Dying would be good right now. He was going to die.

Wide-eyed, Branch stared at Poppy from the other side of the sculpture. Gummy pink-blue candy began to melt between his fingers. Poppy pursed her lips, her eyes narrowing.

Then she shrugged. "Smiley does excellent work. Am I really this adorable though?" she chuckled, pinching one of the taffy crown flowers and stretching until the petal snapped free. She popped it in her mouth. "Delicious too."

He prayed a wormhole would open and drop an avalanche on him.

"Well, I'll leave you to it," Poppy said cheerfully. "Val says she needs help with a power outage. The chargebugs must need more hugs."

Just before Poppy left she swooped to his side. Lips pressed to his cheek. The smooch ended with a kissy pop.

"Love ya! Byeeee~"

Poppy rocketed away leaving no time to respond. He sank to his knees.

"Love… you too…"

After a few minutes he realized the side of his face was smeared in tacky candy goo, thanks to touching the spot she'd kissed.

* * *

Cooper ambled along the forest path on the way to Vibe Town. Current exercise: shout at the floating spaceship. That's what a troll was supposed to do to get on board. Maybe that's what made shouting at it extra fun?

"Hey Cooper!" he greeted himself as he passed by.

Oh, ah, actually, that was kinda strange. This was not the Cooper dimension, right? He craned his head around to look back. Fuzzy pink stripes, hat, blue hair, no tail. Yeah that was definitely Cooper. He narrowed his eyes and hummed. No tinsel. Not Prince D in disguise.

"Cooper, what are you doing out here?" he accused, circling himself. "Not going to say anything, huh? I see how it is."

The other Cooper didn't blink, either.

"If this is a staring contest you know this is just gonna go on forever." He poked himself in the strangely statuesque chest. "You are now aware of your blinking and breathing."

He breathed. He blinked. Other Cooper did not move. Wow.

It took a lot of effort to make sure he kept breathing. Hug time rolled around, and Cooper had to admit, maybe this other guy was great at the staring and not moving and being quiet, but his hugs were _terrible_.

That was when Cooper noticed something unusual. It looked like other Cooper's eyes were out of alignment. The more he stared, the more it seemed bits of Cooper were moving.

In horror Cooper watched for what seemed an eternity. His double's face sagged, the smile warping. Teeth drooped into long white icicles. Hair plastered to fur. Colors slicked and blended together. Oh, agh, it was terrifying. He couldn't stop watching. What was happening? Thousands of potential scenarios flitted through Cooper's brain before he latched onto the only logical conclusion.

"I'm melting!" he shouted.

Cooper scrambled away fast as possible. "Guys! Help! I'M MELTING!"

* * *

Dante said nothing.

Minuet hovered. She let her posture relax, the violin slipping from her shoulder, the bow at ease. "Well?" she prompted. "What did you think?"

Dante considered it, sitting at the table with a hand under his chin and his eyes closed. If it weren't for the unusual silence she would've assumed his to be an expression of rapture. He was seated after all, so the piece certainly wasn't worthy of a standing ovation.

Nor was it worth a bow, apparently. Okay. Her ego smarted but she could handle the critique.

But the silence. The silence! Minuet coughed politely. "Ahem."

Dante kept her on the edge with his perpetual quiet. This was quite unlike him.

"I must confess I feel your actions are bordering on rudeness. Was it truly that bad?"

No response.

It occurred to Minuet that yes, in fact her new piece had been so mundane that…

…that he had fallen asleep.

She zipped around Dante, studying his expression. Yes. He'd fallen asleep with his head in his hand. Of—of all the ungrateful! He hadn't even bothered to state he was in no condition to judge her work!

Minuet fluttered a hand to her chest. "And here I thought we were friends. _Colleagues,_ even!"

He did not see fit to protest. She turned her back and spoke loud enough to rouse him. "I apologize for wasting your time, dear _coworker_!" Then she flitted away.

It was only a few hours later, when she passed the central stage again, that she spotted him in the exact same location as before. He hadn't moved.

In an instant her previous accusations disappeared and concern poured to the surface. Was he asleep, or…?

With great caution Minuet extended a finger. She placed it upon his cold, hard cheek.

She shrieked.

"Queen Poppy," Minuet burbled, barely able to control herself. "You must send a doctor immediately. I fear Dante is… is…"

Dead.

"...ill!"

The queen could tell how distraught she was. Poppy wasted no time. "Woah woah, okay. I'll find Doctor Moonbloom."

The doctor hovered a stethoscope over Dante's chest. "Mmm, yes," she said. "He has no pulse."

Minuet may have lost consciousness for a brief moment.

"I'm afraid to say but… this troll is…" the doctor's face shadowed "...made of candy." She took a bite out of Dante's cotton candy hair. Minuet slapped her hands over her mouth, horrified.

"No, Minuet," Poppy explained. "It's taffy. See?" She pulled Dante's ear. Yellow goop stretched and stretched, drooping in the middle.

No! No! This was worse. He'd turned into candy?!

"Woah, no," Poppy said. "Okay. This," she waved her hands around Dante, "is not Dante. This is a statue that _looks_ like him... that is made of taffy."

"I'm sorry, what?"

Poppy continued waving, with slow emphasis, "This is a candy statue."

"You… have such things in Pop Village?"

"Yes."

Minuet looked at the terrifyingly realistic taffy figure. She placed her palms together and tipped the fingers against her lips. What was the best way to say this? "Has anyone ever told you that pop trolls are rather… unique?"

Poppy laughed. "Oh yeah, Branch says that _all_ the time. Though from him the words crazy, weird, annoying, and insane come to mind."

* * *

Poppy raced to the slanted boulder protecting Branch's bunker. She'd gotten used to checking big plans with other trolls. This idea - this definitely seemed like his kind of thing. He was going to love it.

"Ahhh! Branch!" she cheered when she found him just outside his home, looking up at the sky enigmatically with a hand over his chin. Whatever cloud he was studying _paled_ in comparison to this. She cracked the scrapbook open.

"So you know how we had the village build those fancy contraptions to get us to all the different local tribe spaces? Weeeell, it kind of takes a long time traveling between some of them, screaming at Vibe Town until someone beams you up isn't the _most_ effective, and on top of that, I'm sure you remember what happened last week when Dante and Synth got stuck halfway down the underwater flower elevator." Poppy chuckled nervously. Yeah that had not been great.

"Anyway, what if there were a way to simplify all that? What if we could, say, have a wormhole from one place to the next?"

Before he could complain she charged forward. "And yes I know how dangerous that sounds _buuuut_..."

Pause for effect. Flip scrapbook page. Celebratory ribbons fanned out with a party horn coo.

"R & B say they found a way to make short distance portals in this area of the forest! They just need your help to figure out how to make them extra safe. Then, if anyone at Classical Crest wants to hop down to Techno Lagoon, all they have to do is walk through a metaphorical door."

Poppy snorted and waved a hand. "I was thinking, y'know, a room with six portals at each location, but you get what I mean."

She waited with sparkling eyes for words of interest, or questions, or, well, any reaction at all? Branch stood stiffly. He didn't even turn to face her. Huh. She let her arm fall limp. The scrapbook dangled.

"Okay. You've been awfully quiet this whole time."

A horrible thought struck her.

"This isn't because I…" Cupcakes, the kiss. "Too soon? Was it too soon? I just thought, I mean I was kinda waiting for you to… but you didn't… and I wanted to try again."

 _Hair, Poppy, you couldn't be patient with just_ one _troll? He needs time you know that!_

"Look, I'm really sorry," she pleaded. "I care about you so much I—"

She touched the cold, slightly sticky shoulder. The shock of the non-Branch texture stopped time for a second.

"Oh you've GOT to be kidding me!"

* * *

"So you see Biggie," Milton explained. "This candy replica is only a stand-in for the real Mr. Dinkles. Which means he must be somewhere nearby." The lilac colored veterinarian scanned the trees. "Ah, I believe that is him."

"Mister D!" Biggie scolded from the ground. "Honestly how many times must I tell you, if you use your teeth to climb trees they'll get all crooked and you'll have to get braces!"

Laguna scribbled wildly in their book. Exhibition of parental, possibly overprotective behavior.

"And where have you been anyway! I could've sworn that tree was empty not twenty minutes ago."

"Meep."

Using regular worm abilities, the critter crawled down the tree enough for Biggie to collect it. "Ugh," Biggie complained. "You're all gummed up. I'm the one who was carrying around a lump of taffy all day, why are you sticky too?"

* * *

Stripe Smiley knew the group of not-so-happy looking trolls was headed right for his lovely candy bar. "Welcome friends! You look like you could use a dose of sugar. What can I get ya? Bonbons? Gumdrops? Or one of Stripe's one-of-a-kind taffy—"

"Smiley!" Poppy tried to keep her voice level but it came out loud anyway. "This has gone _too_ far."

Ah yes, a good old fashioned mob.

"I nearly lost Mr. D to a game of freeze tag."

"I literally melted. It was horrible."

"I thought Dante was _dead_!"

"And it ruined my kiii-aarefully planned surprise!" Branch added.

Smidge pounded a hair fist onto the countertop. "I'm angry because something probably happened to me and I didn't even notice." She pounded the counter again, "Or I'm angry because nothing happened to me and I did notice."

"Look," Poppy told Smiley, "I'll admit the candy sculptures have been… oddly useful. And they make for great pranks. And they're incredibly well crafted. And delicious. But this is getting out of hand."

"Also," Branch continued, "doesn't it seem a little strange to you that they're life sized troll replicas that taste really good? Doesn't that, I dunno…" he wiggled fingers around his head "...ring any bells?"

Smiley smiled. "Hmm, nope! Can't say it does."

"Ugh."

"Welp," Smiley said. "This is no trouble at all, no trouble. No more life sized statues. How about baby sized ones instead?" In an instant he whipped up an absolutely adorable version of Queen Poppy with extra sparkles and big shimmery eyes.

"Aww," the others cooed.

Branch threw his hands out. "This is the exact opposite of an improvement!"

Maybe some signage then? Smiley added a sticker that read "edible" to it. Branch, still with his palms out, shook his head and gaped like he couldn't believe this was happening. Poppy put a hand on the flabbergasted troll's shoulder.

"How about something less real?" she suggested. "Like, y'know, critter crackers or gummy worms?"

"Ah! Then how about these tiny taffy puffalos?" Smiley made some on the spot.

The queen circled her fingers into an ok. "Perfect. Thank you."

The taffified cartoon critters turned out to be a brilliant success. And so it was—that after that fateful string of taffy-related events—if you wanted to take a bite out of your best friend, or your sweetheart, or yourself, well, you'd just have to go to a different establishment.


End file.
